Let's Be Realistic
by Aikido Kiryuu
Summary: Sequel to Invisible. Zero has disappeared off of the face of the earth, returning Midori to her previous state of depression. When Ichiru shows up again, what will happen?  Doesn't stick to original VK storyline
1. Introduction

I stood alone out on the balcony, soaked through to the bones by the unrelenting, icy rain that stung my cheeks to the touch. I was staring out at nothing in particular, mouth slightly parted to let small dandelion-like puffs escape my lips, hang in the air for a fraction of a second, and then dissolve into the empty night. The moon was hidden by the thick rain clouds, I was left in what seemed to be complete darkness. Empty darkness. Like there was no one else in the world in the dark but me. Somehow, I was shutting the cold out, and it didn't like the fact that I was winning. It continued to bite at me, threatening me, trying to force me to give up and go inside. It was decided though, I would stand out here for as long as I needed to, until I found my piece of mind.

"Where are you?" My mouth formed the words slowly, but no sound could be heard.

I watched the path beneath me, towards the front gate, waiting for someone who hadn't and wouldn't come. Every day, I'd stood out here for hours, until I couldn't hold my struggling eyelids open any longer. Tonight it was raining. I managed a hoarse cough out every now and again, and my body was trying to tell me to give up. I didn't want to give up though- I wouldn't give up. He was out there- somewhere. He had to be.

Forever. Love is supposed to be forever, isn't it? You're supposed to find the person that you were meant to be with, and that's the end. Isn't it? Happily ever after. Isn't that what's supposed to happen? No. There is no Happily Ever After, and I was stupid to ever think that there was. Never let yourself fall into the trap of false self-security. In the end it just hurts you. I really let myself believe that there was such a thing as being happy and in love. Looking back on it, I realize how stupid it was.


	2. Destination: Anywhere But Here

There's a place in the world where everyone wishes that they were. That place is different for everyone, adapting to the person's likes and dislikes. Maybe it's Key West, maybe it's France, maybe it's Russia. Maybe it's in the middle of the jungle. I don't know, and I don't really give a crap where your special place is. I once thought that I was where I loved, where I belonged, and where I was happy. But then I realized that it wasn't so much of my location that mattered as the people there that mattered. I could have been floating on a piece of driftwood lost at sea, and I would have been happy if Zero was there. I could be in a luxury resort with maids waiting to attend to all of my silly frivolous whims, and I would have been miserable if I was alone.

I was sitting on my bed, hugging my knees to my chest, and staring at my feet. It had already been two months, hadn't it? Two months since Zero had been assigned a job by the Hunter's Association and never returned. No one knew where he was. No one cared. At first, after the first three weeks, it had hurt me. It had hurt me a lot, and I was thrown back into the grimness of life and death. Life had given me a wake-up call, and reminded me that life is never perfect forever. Consequently, I'd become even more secluded and closed-off then I ever had been before. I'd rebuilt the walls around my heart, and my eyes were empty of tears. Every single bit of water had escaped my eyes. Now I would just get the occasional tingling sensation. It was over now, the inevitable had happened, and just when I thought that I'd found myself, I'd been smashed against the rocks by a surprise wave.

I felt a churning in my stomach, and I knew that my anger was inches away from flaring up. Not at anyone, though, but myself. At first I'd thought that I was angry at Zero, but as I began to dig deeper into why I was feeling the way I was, I discovered that I was angry with myself for letting him into my life in the first place. Why had I done such a stupid and irrational thing? I felt my eyes wander to my dresser drawer, and I felt something inside of my brain click into place. Somewhere, beneath my towels and underwear, was a small pocket knife. One that I hadn't seen for a long time. Whatever sensible part of me was left was telling me to ignore the fact that it was even there- and forget about what I suddenly longed to do. Why would I want to do that again, anyways? Did I want to do it to make myself hurt, or make Zero, wherever he was, feel bad about leaving me alone?

"Ignore it," I whispered to myself, shutting my eyes from the suddenly unbearably bright light. I was above this, wasn't I? I had gotten better...I couldn't relapse into that dark, wretched world, could I? But the bitterness and hatred was swelling inside of my heart, making it beat faster until I just wanted to leave the world behind, and float away. I kept myself firmly planted on the bed, trying not to think of the small metal thing I had once found comfort in. It used to help me remember that I still felt something, that I wasn't just a shadow. That I was still alive. That the blood was still rushing through my veins.

If I did...there was no one there to stop me this time. Yuuki had gone off with Kaname after discovering that she was some sort of vampire. Zero had left soon after that, both angry with her and angry at the world. After the whole Tawny business was over of course. Losing a close friend was something I'd only experienced recently- but hating one was something that I was unable to comprehend. Yuuki had been- or tried to be my friend. And I'd pushed her away continuously, not realizing that she was the only one who was left trying to fix me. Now she was gone, and I kind of missed the annoying little brunette. Kind of. But let's not get that confused with genuine missing her. I fell onto my back, letting my legs drop straight so my toes touched the end of the bed and my arms drop to my sides. I stared at the ceiling thinking about absolutely nothing. Or maybe I thought about everything. Whichever it was, I didn't remember a single thing that went on in my brain during that period of time when I came back into the land of the living.

When I finally became conscious, I sat up and dangled my legs over the bed. I glanced over at my desk in my small, cramped little room. I was living in the Chairman's guest bedroom. My eyes landed on the stack of papers that had been college applications- to schools in America as well as in Japan. Once Zero had disappeared, I'd abandoned the thought of going to a college entirely. The applications were still sitting there, collecting dust and half completed. My trash was full of discarded essays. I hadn't planned on going to a college- not originally anyways. But as it so happens you really can't be a psychiatrist (or any kind of doctor for that matter) without some type of qualifications. Now I wondered if it was even a good idea to plan for that sort of thing. I did seem to be falling into a relapse of depression, after all...

Ah, irony.

I was tempted to get away from this place now, and try to apply to one of these colleges, if it wasn't too late. As I studied the dates, I soon realized that for most of them, it was. I was sure that by now, most of the future students were getting acceptance letters by now. Although there were two or three applications that I could still submit, if I mailed them within the next four days. It was a stretch. Could I really come up with a decent form to submit in time? My grades had never been that great, but they weren't terrible either. There's a place in this world where everyone wishes they were.

And for me, that place was anywhere but here.


	3. Zero's Girl

It was too late to bother thinking about college, I realized too late. I'd procrastinated far too long by this point, and if I had had any hopes to begin with, I would have needed to send in my applications months and months ago. Unlike a lot of the other students, I hadn't been so prepared as to talk to guidance counselors and whatnot, and I hadn't properly understood the entire process. So, I was trapped here with the Chairman, forced to waste my life away for another year. I was currently doing some of my "father's" grunt work, and he actually had some sort of delusional idea in his head that I might help him run the school someday. On some weekday evenings, I would sit in his office and help with paperwork. Normally, I would have been appalled at the idea of working for him, but it gave me something to do. It kept my mind busy, so it wouldn't wander. When I was concentrated on something else, I didn't have to think about...him.

I was in the filing room, searching for the record of a particular student to bring back to the headmaster, when my "father" himself strode into the room, a look of concern shadowing his face. I rose to my feet and stared at him. "What's wrong?" I demanded, immediately on my guard.

"Something's happened," he swallowed, giving a small, fake smile towards me.

I wasn't in the mood to play guessing games right now. "Tell me what happened," I demanded, taking a step towards him.

"You aren't going to like it," he warned, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

The only thought that could play through my head was that Zero had died. I felt my heart drop to the floor and roll away into a dark corner. "Is Zero okay?" I asked frantically, grabbing onto his shoulders.

"Well, we're still not sure on that. This isn't about Zero, anyway," he began, pushing his glasses up his nose. "It's actually about his brother."

"Isn't Ichiru supposed to be dead?" I asked, confused. My hands dropped to my sides. I was confused, but I was also more relived then I could have imagined. Zero wasn't dead.

"Supposed to be? Well, yes. Except, by some miracle, he's not."

"And how does this concern me?" I asked kneeling back down on the ground and picking through the files again, secretly wishing to be left alone again.

"He wishes to finish school here."

"So what?" I was getting impatient now. There was obviously more to this story, or he wouldn't bother to tell me.

"He's a vampire now."

That made me stop what I was doing and look up at him. I blanched. This wasn't how anything was supposed to happen. Ichiru was dead. Gone. I didn't want to see him, not once. He would remind me of Zero too much. I was afraid that if I saw him, my mind wouldn't discern the difference between them anymore. Oh Zero. Where are you?

Despite the fact that my mind was reeling and tossing in waves upon waves of inner turmoil, I tried to pretend like it wasn't a big deal. "I won't have to...interact with him at all, will I?"

"Not a lot, no. However I came in to ask you if you could print out his schedule and get his uniform from the back room. It was delivered the other day, it's still in a box. I need to go to a meeting, and he'll be arriving any minute. Could you just direct him around for me?" He gave me pleading eyes, and I knew I really couldn't deny doing it.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" I grumbled as I walked past him to retrieve our new arrival's uniform.

Ichiru arrived shortly afterward, as expected. He strolled into the office, looking just as handsome and powerful as his twin. I put down my book as he approached me. His hair was long, much longer than Zero's. It easily brushed his shoulders. A wave of relief swept through me as I realized that this was definitely not Zero, and I could most certainly determine the difference between them. However it did not prevent me from finding him to be extremely attractive.

_God, Midori. You've been away from Zero too long._

"Hello," he said with a small smirk. "Where's the Chairman?"

"At a meeting," I said, my voice lacking in emotion. On the inside, a bit of nerves and anger were welling up inside of me. He still did look a lot like Zero. "I was left to give you your things and show you on your way."

Why was he even coming back to school, anyway? He had to be too old by now. I didn't ask him though. If anything was changing about me still, it was the fact I'd become a little bit more aware of what I should and should not say out loud. I handed him the piece of paper with his Night Class schedule, as well as the cardboard shipping box that had delivered his white uniform.

"Would you mind showing me where I need to go?" He inquired politely enough. He still had an odd half smirk on his face, one that bothered me inside.

"All right, fine," I sighed, walking towards the door. He followed me without question. We walked in silence towards the Moon Dorm for a few minutes before he finally spoke to me.

"You're my brother's girl, aren't you?"

"I wasn't your brother's anything. I suppose you could have said that we dated but, not anymore," I snapped. The subject was a painful one to touch on.

"I can see why he was interested in you."

I didn't respond to that comment, and it made me feel a bit queasy inside. I wasn't sure I could handle it if Ichiru began to go after me. He looked too much like Zero. But he wasn't Zero.

"Here's the dorm. Go to the Dorm President's office, and you'll get a room assignment," I said, bored and eager to get away from him.

Ichiru smiled at me. Or, it seemed to be a smile, though it really just looked like a happy smirk. He leaned towards me and kissed my forehead. "Thank you, Zero's Girl." He walked away, and didn't look back at me.

Clearly he just enjoyed messing with people.


End file.
